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Just fifteen minutes after the club issued the announcement of their manager's surprising departure via a perfunctory short statement, the bombshell landed, from Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in obvious fury.

In an extensive statement, major shareholder Dermot Desmond savaged his former ally.

The man he persuaded to join the team when their rivals were gaining ground in that period and needed putting in their place. Plus the figure he again relied on after Ange Postecoglou departed to Tottenham in the summer of 2023.

Such was the severity of his critique, the jaw-dropping comeback of Martin O'Neill was almost an secondary note.

Twenty years after his exit from the organization, and after much of his latter years was dedicated to an continuous series of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his old hits at the team, O'Neill is back in the dugout.

For now - and perhaps for a while. Considering things he has expressed lately, O'Neill has been eager to get another job. He'll see this role as the ultimate opportunity, a present from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the environment where he enjoyed such glory and praise.

Will he relinquish it readily? It seems unlikely. Celtic might well make a call to sound out their ex-manager, but O'Neill will act as a balm for the time being.

'Full-blooded Effort at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's return - however strange as it may be - can be parked because the most significant shocking moment was the brutal manner Desmond wrote of Rodgers.

This constituted a forceful attempt at defamation, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a perpetrator of untruths, a spreader of misinformation; divisive, deceptive and unacceptable. "A single person's wish for self-interest at the cost of others," wrote he.

For a person who prizes propriety and sets high importance in business being done with confidentiality, if not complete secrecy, here was another example of how unusual things have become at the club.

The major figure, the organization's dominant presence, moves in the margins. The absentee totem, the one with the power to take all the important decisions he wants without having the obligation of explaining them in any public forum.

He does not participate in club AGMs, dispatching his son, Ross, in his place. He seldom, if ever, gives interviews about the team unless they're glowing in tone. And still, he's reluctant to communicate.

There have been instances on an occasion or two to defend the club with confidential missives to news outlets, but nothing is heard in the open.

This is precisely how he's wanted it to remain. And it's exactly what he went against when going all-out attack on the manager on Monday.

The directive from the club is that he resigned, but reading his criticism, line by line, one must question why did he allow it to reach such a critical point?

Assuming Rodgers is guilty of all of the things that Desmond is alleging he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to ask why was the manager not dismissed?

Desmond has charged him of spinning information in open forums that were inconsistent with the facts.

He says Rodgers' statements "have contributed to a hostile atmosphere around the team and encouraged animosity towards members of the executive team and the directors. A portion of the criticism directed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unjustified and unacceptable."

What an extraordinary allegation, indeed. Legal representatives might be preparing as we discuss.

His Aspirations Conflicted with Celtic's Strategy Once More'

Looking back to better times, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers lauded the shareholder at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Rodgers deferred to him and, really, to nobody else.

This was Desmond who drew the heat when his comeback happened, after the previous manager.

It was the most divisive hiring, the return of the returning hero for a few or, as other Celtic fans would have put it, the return of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the difficulty for another club.

The shareholder had his back. Over time, Rodgers employed the persuasion, achieved the wins and the honors, and an uneasy truce with the supporters turned into a affectionate relationship again.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a moment when his goals clashed with the club's business model, though.

It happened in his first incarnation and it transpired again, with bells on, recently. He publicly commented about the sluggish way Celtic conducted their transfer business, the endless waiting for targets to be landed, then not landed, as was too often the situation as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he spoke about the need for what he termed "agility" in the market. Supporters agreed with him.

Despite the club splurged unprecedented sums of funds in a calendar year on the £11m one signing, the £9m Adam Idah and the significant further acquisition - all of whom have performed well to date, with one already having left - the manager demanded increased resources and, often, he expressed this in openly.

He set a controversy about a internal disunity inside the team and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his comments at his subsequent media briefing he would usually minimize it and almost reverse what he stated.

Internal issues? No, no, all are united, he'd claim. It appeared like he was engaging in a risky game.

A few months back there was a report in a newspaper that allegedly came from a source associated with the club. It said that the manager was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was managing his departure plan.

He didn't want to be there and he was engineering his way out, that was the implication of the story.

Supporters were angered. They then saw him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his honor because his directors wouldn't back his vision to achieve success.

This disclosure was poisonous, of course, and it was intended to hurt him, which it did. He called for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. Whether there was a probe then we heard no more about it.

At that point it was clear Rodgers was losing the support of the people in charge.

The frequent {gripes